Shuffle feed sorter with sliver ejection



Sept. 20, 1966 sMlTH SHUFFLE FEED SORTER WITH SLIVER EJECTION 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. TRAVER J. SMITH Filed Oct. 12, 1965 ATTORNEYS Sept. 20, 1966 T. J. SMITH SHUFFLE FEED SORTER WITH SLIVER EJECTION Filed Oct. 12, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.4

INVENTOR. TRAVER J. S MITH United States Patent 3,273,711 SHUFF LE FEED SORTER WITH SLIVER EJECTION Traver J. Smith, San Jose, Calif., assignor of one-half interest to Genevieve L. Magnuson, and one-half interest to Genevieve I. Magnuson, Robert Magnuson and Louis J. Fox, trustees of the estate of Roy M. Magnuson Filed Oct. 12, 1965, Ser. No. 495,134 4 Claims. (Cl. 209-98) The present invention relates to self-cleaning shuffie feed sorting structure for use with elongated articles, such as French fried potatoes and the like, and is concerned more particularly with an improved sorting structure in which any articles which might tend to be caught between adjacent shuffie members of the sorting structure or ejected from between said members so that the sorting structure is self-cleaning in operation.

It is a general object of the invention to provide an improved shuffle feed sorting structure for articles such as French fried potatoes and the like, in which the shuffie feed members of the shuffle feed sorting structure have means for effecting cleaning out of the space between adjacent shuffle members during the reciprocation of said shuffle members.

Another general object of the invention is to provide an improved shuflle feed sorting structure which is made self-cleaning in action so that articles will not tend to lodge between the shufiie members and be carried back and forth therebetween during the reciprocation.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved shufile feed sorting structure having an improve-d shuflie feed member of tubular shape for additional strength, and having a general trapezoid cross section with the thicker end of the trapezoid at the leading or progressing end of the shuffle feed and the thinner end of the trapezoid adjacent the trailing end of the shufile feed member.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view, with certain parts shown in elevation, of a structure embodying the instant invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of one of the shuffle feed members.

FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 are respectively operational views similar to the cross sectional view of FIG. 1 and illustrating different details of operation of the shuflle feed structure during the movement of the shuffle feed members in effecting feeding of French fried potatoes together with a sorting action on so called sliver French fries.

FIG. 6 is an operational view similar to FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, but shows the shuflle feed members with alternate ones adjusted to the widest spacing apart during the feeding and sorting operation.

The shuflie feed structure of the instant invention is based generally on the structure shown in US. Letters Patent No. 2,792,929, and the application of Ralph K. Daugherty, Serial No. 399,916, filed September 29, 1964, for Shuffle Feed Sorting Structure, and reference is made to this patent and this application for features not specifically referred to herein.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a shuffle feed structure including a supporting framework 10 above which a shuttle feed sorting structure 12 is supported by four sets or pairs of parallel links 13 and 14 from a frame including a pair of channel members 15, only one channel member or one link of each pair being seen. Suitable crosspipes 16 connect the members 15.

The shufile feed sorting structure 12 per se comprises similar sets of independently supported and alternately arranged shuffle members 26 and 27 (FIGS. 1 and 2) which are fabricated from sheet metal and are mounted in inclined position. These shuflie feed members 26 and 27 each have a long upwardly facing article supporting face 28 and a short upwardly facing article feeding and supporting face 29, which are generally disposed at an angle of 90 degrees to each other. One series of shuffle feed sorting members 26 extends between and are bolted to opposite frame members 31, only one of which is seen, which aid in confining articles within the width of the shuffle feed structure. The rigid structure comprising the opposite side frame members 31 and the shuffle sorting members 26 are supported by the four parallel links 14, only two of which are seen. The other shuttle feed sorting members 27 are carried by angles 33 from a lower pair of opposed side frame members 34 which are supported by four parallel links 13, only two of which are seen. The sets of shuttle feed sorting members are driven in opposite direction by suitable means including a shaft 46 carrying respective pairs of eccentrics 57, only one of which is seen, a similar eccentric 57 and a link 54 being provided for each of the sets of shufiie members.

It will be noted that the shuffle feed sorting members in their entirety move in opposite directions and are driven simultaneously so that relative motion is provided between the shuffle feed members so that each short article feeding face 29 serves to slide or move an article across the adjacent long article supporting face .28 of each of the shuffle feed sorting members 26 and 27 during their reciprocation.

Means is provided for sorting by varying the spacing apart of the shufile members with respect to each other, and the shufiie members with respect to each other, and the shuflle members are connected for simultaneous adjustment of this spacing so that the desired thickness of the article to be fed or article not to be fed can be set quickly and easily.

Referring to FIG. 1, the supporting links 13 and 14 are connected respectively to bracket members 71 by pivotal connections of a generally conventional sort and including a pivot pin 72 for each of the links 13. These pivot pins 72 are threaded into a pivot shaft 73 in an eccentric position. The two pivot shafts 73 for opposite members 13 are connected by a shaft 76. The shaft 76 has secured thereto a lever arm 77 which extends upwardly and is pivotally connected at the right of FIG. 1 to a link 78 which, at its other end, is pivotally connected to the lever 77a which extends upwardly and has as its upper end a clamping means or nut 80 which, with the end of lever 77a, can be clamped to an arcuate indicator plate 83 which may bear indications of the desired spacing apart of the two shuffle feed structures.

When the clamping nut 80 and the lever 77a are at the extreme left a shown in FIG. 1, the shuffle feed members 26 and 27 as seen in FIG. 3 are equally spaced apart. As the eccentric adjustment is changed by rotation of the lever 77a, the spacing can be varied to a maximum, as shown in FIG. 6, for example, where alternate valleys of the shuffle feed sorting structure operate as pure feeding members with no sorting, and the sorting out of narrower dimensioned articles, such as sliver French fried p0- viding the surface 28, and a front part providing the progressing surface 29 of each shuflle member. The lower edge of the member 29 (FIGS. 36) provides a spacing or sorting opening with the adjacent surface 28 to determine which pieces of potato will be passed through this sorting opening and which will be progressed as being of the proper size. In effect, the spacing of the lower edge of the surface 29 from the adjacent surface 28 provides a moving sorting opening and operates with a pushing effect upon the potato segments being fed along while allowing the parts that are too small to pass through a sorting opening. The lower part of each shuffle member comprises a sheet metal plate 92 having an intermediate portion 92a which is disposed in inclined relation to the surface 28 of the upper sheet metal piece to provide a trapezoidal cross section of the tube. At the front edge of the member 92 there is a bent lip 92b coextensive with the lower portion of the lip or front surface 29 of the upper member 91, and at the rear portion of the member 92 there is an upward bend 92c and a straight portion 92d which is secured in flush engagement with the rearward portion of the surface 91.

Secured on the surface 28 (FIG. 2) and at the portion of the trapezoidal tube which is formed by the engaged surfaces 92c and the rear portion of the surface 28 there is provided an ejection strip 93 secured by a plurality of screws 94 to the tubular shuflle member. This strip 93 serves to eject positively a potato sliver 101 (FIG. 3) which becomes wedged between the adjacent shuffle members in the sorting opening to prevent rubbing back and forth of this sliver and partial clogging of the sorting opening. Preferably, the ejecting ledge or step 93 at the forward stroke of the shuffle member, as seen in FIG. 4, for example, travels slightly beyond the sorting lip formed by the lower edge of the front face 29 of a shuffle memher so as to clearly carry a wedged-strip free of the openmg.

It will be noted that the ejecting ledge 93 as seen in FIG. 3, for example, is spaced free of the tapering surface 92a of the opposing shuffle member so as to free any sliver which is carried back with the ledge 93 to permit it to pass over this ledge freely and to be discharged from the machine as seen, for example, in FIGS. 4 and 6 at 102 and 103. The lip 92b of the lower member 92 provides an abutment which tends to be engaged by a sliver being sorted so as to aid it in passing out through the sorting opening and being dropped below the shuffle feed members.

It will be obvious that the invention may be incorporated also in a shufiie feed structure having one series of shuffle feed sorting members fixed and the other series movable as is common in many shuffle feed structures.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is apparent that the invention is capable of variation and modification from the forms shown so that the scope of the invention should be limited only by the proper scope of the claims appended hereto.

What I claim is:

1. A self-cleaning shuffle feed sorting structure comprising a frame, a first set of transversely disposed inclined shuffle members carried by said frame, a second set of transversely disposed inclined shuffle members interposed between the shuflle members of the first set and in alternating relation therewith, means mounting at least one set of said shuffle members for reciprocation in substantially parallel relation with respect to the other set of shuffle members to provide a valley-to-valley progressing action for articles supported by said shuffle feed structure, means spacing at least certain-of said shuffle feed memactive progressing shuffle member engaged therewith, thereby providing for'separation of narrow articles of a given dimension or less by moving between said adjacent members and thereby failing to be fed forward while articles of given thickness above said given dimension continue to be fed along said shuffle members, and an article ejecting ledge carried by the lower one of an adjacent pair of said shuffle members and operative during reciprocation of said lower one shuffle member to move forwardly with respect to the adjacent shufile member and engage an article caught therebetween and perform an ejecting operation on said article.

2. A shufi'le feed structure comprising a frame, a first set of transversely disposed inclined shuffle members carried by said frame, a second set of transversely disposed inclined shuflle members carried by the frame and interposed between the shufile members of the first set in alternating relation therewith, each shuffie member comprising a tube having spaced-apart top and bottom walls joined together at their rearward edges and having their front edges connected in spaced-apart relation by a front wall providing the article advancing face of a shufile member, and means for effecting relative reciprocation between the respective sets of shufile members.

3. A shuffie feed sorting structure comprising a frame, a first set of transversely disposed inclined shufiie mem bers carried by said frame, a second set of transversely disposed inclined shuflle members carried by the frame and interposed between the shuffle members of the first set in alternating relation therewith, means for effecting relative reciprocation between said sets of shuflle members, each shufile member including a top wall comprising an article supporting surface and a front wall providbers apart to provide sorting and grading openings between adjacent pairs of said shuffle members, the sorting opening for a particular article being disposed below the ing the article advancing face of a shufile member, and an article ejecting structure on said top wall of the shufile members and operative to move into the sorting opening between adjacent shufllle members at the end of its forward movement and eject any article remaining in the sorting opening.

4. A shuffie feed sorting structure comprising a frame, a first set of transversely disposed inclined shufiie mem bers carried by said frame, a second set of transversely disposed inclined shufiie members interposed between the shuffle members of the first set in alternating relation therewith, each shuffle member comprising a top plate bent substantially angle shaped with one short side presenting the advancing face of a shufile member and the long side providing the article supporting surface of the shuffie member, and a bottom plate for each of said top plates comprising a member having a bent flange at its forward edge secured to the short leg of said top member and said lower plate extending rearwardly therefrom in converging relation with respect to the article supporting part of said top shuffle member and being secured thereto at its rearward end, and an ejecting ledge on the upper face of said shuffie member and extending there across for ejecting any article caught between said pair of adjacent shuffle members.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,992,331 2/1935 Smith 198-219 2,463,578 3/1949 Tyler 209-88 2,549,316 4/1951 Kremer 209-99 2,792,929 5/1937 Magnuson et a1 198218 3,088,577 5/1963 Chamberlin 198-218 3,151,729 10/1964 Gardiner 198218 M. HENSON WOOD, JRL, Primary Examiner. C. H. SPADERNA, Assistant Examiner. 

2. A SHUFFLE FEED STRUCTURE COMPRISING A FRAME, A FIRST SET OF TRANSVERSELY DISPOSED INCLINED SHUFFLE MEMBERS CARRIED BY SAID FRAME, A SECOND SET OF TRANSVERSELY DISPOSED INCLINED SHUFFLE MEMBERS CARRIED BY THE FRAME AND INTERPOSED BETWEEN THE SHUFFLE MEMBERS OF THE FIRST SET IN ALTERNATING RELATION THEREWITH, EACH SHUFFLE MEMBER COMPRISING A TUBE HAVING SPACED-APART TOP AND BOTTOM WALLS JOINED TOGETHER AT THEIR REARWARD EDGES AND HAVING THEIR FRONT 